Harmful to Animals and Humans? Arguments That Challenge Animal Research and Attitudes Held by University Students

This paper focuses on attitudes held by UK-based university students toward the use of animals in scientific research (animal research). We aimed to: (1) compare the effects of the main arguments against animal research on the investigated attitudes; that is, the ethical argument (harming animals is wrong) and the epistemic argument (animal research is unreliable and potentially harmful to humans), and (2) assess the impact of social identification with academic subject area on the investigated attitudes. Studies 1a (n = 334) and 1b (n = 657) were between-subject online experiments. The participants read a vignette focusing on the ethical argument, another vignette focusing on the epistemic argument, or no vignette (control condition) and answered questionnaires about their attitudes toward animal research. Study 2 (n = 361) adopted a correlational design. Participants answered online questionnaires about their views of science, identification with their academic subject area (Biomedical, Humanities, or Other Sciences), and attitudes toward animal research. We found that across all studies and conditions (including control conditions), UK-based university students expressed, on average, negative attitudes toward animal research. Attitudes varied significantly according to the students’ subject area (more negative among Humanities students and less negative among Biomedical students), and the epistemic argument was more powerful than the ethical argument in increasing negative attitudes toward animal research. We also found that, among Biomedical students, higher identification with their subject area predicted lower rejection of animal research. The discussion of the findings highlights that (1) the epistemic argument had a greater effect on the investigated attitudes because it challenged the scientific authority of animal research, and (2) social identification processes related to engaged followership in biomedical training are important factors in the reproduction of the animal research paradigm. This paper contributes original knowledge as it assessed the effects of the ethical and epistemic arguments on attitudes toward animal research and analyzed the relationship between these attitudes and social identification processes involving engaged followership.